The INAO's legal and international department carries out a monitoring of trademark registrations and to detect any possible usurpation, misappropriation or weakening of a denomination's notoriety.

How is this watch carried out?

At national level, the watch is carried out manually, using the Bulletin Officiel de la Propriété Intellectuelle. The aim of this method is to make a detailed assessment of registration applications, whether in terms of the trademark as such, the products targeted or the identification of applicants. It enables us, for example, to take into account translations or evocations, particularly through images, which would not otherwise stand out.

Internationally, monitoring is carried out directly by an industrial property firm, which informs us of potentially problematic trademarks.

How does INAO respond to the risk of usurpation posed by a trademark?

Several procedures can be implemented. Depending on the case, observations are sent to the applicants of the problematic trademarks and/or to the Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI), to the European union intellectual property officer (EUIPO) or to the national intellectual property institutes of EU or non-EU countries. Although non-contentious, these actions are proving highly effective. Depending on the case, these observations tend:

• to have the trademark modified, rejected or withdrawn (as a whole or for a particular product category)
• to have the products covered by the trademark, where they are comparable to those benefiting from the geographical indications concerned, restricted to the GI or excluded.
• to particular vigilance regarding the terms of use

In some cases, a formal opposition to the registration of the trademark is carried out, in conjunction with the defense and management organizations behind each geographical indication concerned. This approach is more cumbersome and costly.